Ethiopia: Oromo activist Dr. Merera Gudina has now spent a year in detention. Dr. Gudina’s trial concluded on November 30, 2017, and his verdict will be delivered on January 3, 2018. The trial took place a full year after the scholar and chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) was arrested and accused of violating Ethiopia’s 10-month state of emergency by associating with Dr. Nega who leads the Patriotic Ginbot 7 (G7), an opposition group that is considered a “terrorist organization” by Ethiopia’s ruling party. Issued in October 2016, Ethiopia’s 10-month state of emergency followed massive 2015 demonstrations that swept through the Oromia and Amhara regions, which is where the majority of the ethnic Oromo population resides. Since November 2015, more than 600 protesters have been killed during the demonstrations and thousands more detained. Click here to share a solidarity tweet with Dr. Gudina, and learn more about the crackdown on human rights in Ethiopia at helpsetthemfree.org/ethiopia.

Equatorial Guinea: On December 7, 2017, Equatoguinean authorities rushed imprisoned political cartoonist and blogger Ramón Nsé Esono Ebalé to court – without notifying his lawyers – and formally charged him with “money laundering and counterfeiting.” To join the international #FreeNseRamon Campaign led by civil society organization Equatorial Guinea Justice, read more information available in English, Español, Portuguese, and Francais.

Venezuela: In December 2017, Daniel Ceballos, the former mayor of San Cristóbal, secretly slipped a letter out that detailed his prison conditions for the past two months. Since October 2017, he has been held in solitary confinement, forced to wear an ankle bracelet, is photographed daily by prison guards, and denied visitation rights to see his family and lawyers. For nearly three years, Ceballos has been denied the right to trial; he is one of the estimated 342 political prisoners in Venezuela – this includes journalists, students, peaceful demonstrators, pro-democracy activists, and several mayors – who are subjected to inhumane treatment in prison. Click here to watch Venezuelan activist Tamara Adrian share how she is working to protect democracy in the country, and inspiring citizens to remain hopeful despite Venezuela’s current socio-economic crisis.

Adrian is a World Movement Steering Committee member.